I want to make clear that this lie is in no way the biggest
lie, not even remotely close. It is, however, a very common lie, one that I
have heard from Conservatives, Liberals, Libertarians, Christians, and
non-Christians alike. It is spoken with the best of intentions and comes from a
heart of gold from nearly every person who has ever believed this lie. It is a
lie nonetheless, and I would like to explain why I believe it is such. You may
disagree, and you most certainly have the right to. We will just agree to
disagree.
The lie goes something like this, “You can’t
legislate morality because it doesn’t change minds and hearts.” On its face, one could see how a
person believing this has the greatest of intentions. It is their intention to
be loving towards people in the hopes that eventually those people will see the
consequences of their actions and how they are perhaps damaging to others, and
then they will put a stop to their actions. There is absolutely nothing wrong
with loving people and hoping they will come to their senses. As Christians, we
are called to be even more loving and more gracious towards people in the hopes
of leading them to the ultimate giver of Love and Grace, which is Christ. What
some seem to forget is that Christ is also ultimate Truth. We can’t
abandon truth in the name of grace. They go together.
How is this statement a lie if it is said by a number of
people with good intentions? This statement is not logical. Legislation
is a law or set of laws that are written and passed by people in government.
People in government write and pass laws based on what they believe to be right
and wrong- also called morality. What kind of morality those people have
depends entirely on the kind of people they were born and raised to be. Some
might have a Biblical morality. Some might have a more secular morality. Either
way, no person would ever write or pass a law that went against their kind of
morality unless they suffered from some sort of split personality. Therefore,
the idea that one cannot legislate morality is silly and illogical at best, but
it also leads to something much worse.
This statement completely ignores the Biblical purpose of
government.
“Every person is to be in subjection
to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and
those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority
has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive
condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good
behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is
good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is
evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a
minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but
also for conscience’
sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God,
devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to
whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.
Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “You
shall not commit Adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal. You shall
not covet,”
and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.” Love
does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Romans 13:1-10
If a person claims Christianity as their religion, one of
the central tenants is the belief in Scripture as the incorruptible Word of
God. If you are one who does not hold to this belief, then ignore this
paragraph and maybe even the next. These verses in Romans 13 clearly state the
purpose of the authority God establishes. The purpose of governing authorities
is to be a minister of God in the world for those who do good and to be a
minister of God in the world to punish those who do evil. What sort of instrument
would a government implement in order to punish evildoers? Most governments
come up with some sort of guidelines that clearly define what is acceptable
behavior in a society and what is not. (I say most, but it’s most
likely all.) Those same governments then define the consequences that come with
not following those guidelines. These governments might call these guidelines “laws.” What
would a government use to determine what sort of laws are acceptable? The vast
majority would use something referred to as the Laws of Nature.
“This law was called the Law of Nature
because people thought that every one knew it by nature and did not need to be
taught it. They did not mean, of course, that you might not find an odd
individual here and there who did not know it, just as you find a few people
who are colour-blind or have no ear for a tune. But taking the race as a whole,
they thought that the human idea of decent behavior was obvious to every one.
And I believe they were right. If they were not, then all the things we said
about the war were nonsense. What was the sense in saying the enemy were in the
wrong unless Right is a real thing which the Nazis at bottom knew as well as we
did and ought to have practiced? If they had had no notion of what we mean by
right, then, though we might still have had to fight them, we could no more
have blamed them for that than for the colour of their hair.”
C.S. Lewis
from Mere Christianity
The Laws of Nature inevitably lead to morality. Morality is the determining source for any set of governing laws.
Some proponents of this lie are concerned about some
Christians gaining power and imposing their religion and the worship of their
God on others who would not normally worship their God. I would be lying if I
told you those kinds of Christians don’t exist. They do unfortunately, and
they have absolutely no concept of the Biblical limits on government. This same
passage (Romans 13) that establishes the Biblical purpose of government, also
establishes what laws the government is to be responsible for upholding among
its subjects. You will notice that there is no mention of forcing subjects to
obey the commandment given specifically to Jesus’ followers to “Love
the Lord their God.”
There is only the commandment of loving a neighbor as yourself. If I truly love
my neighbor, why in the world would I force him or her to worship a God that
they had no desire or intention of worshiping? That would be hatred of the
worst kind and would most likely send those poor neighbors sprinting towards
the gates of hell.
Most proponents of this lie use it to say Christians have no
right to impose their moral views or to legislate their morality in one
particular matter: abortion. The vast majority of people when asked their
personal views on abortion will say that they wouldn’t
personally have an abortion, but they would never tell anyone else that they
couldn’t.
When you ask these same people why they would never personally have an
abortion, they essentially tell you, “Well, I think it might be murder, and
I would feel bad about it.” If they honestly considered abortion to be murder and
they inherently understood that they didn’t personally have the right to murder
another human being, why would they be ok if someone else murdered their own
baby? Either they don’t really believe abortion is murder or they do not
understand or value the rights of other human beings.
When talking about rights, most people will cite the
Constitution (or believe they are citing it) and say, “The
Federal Government has no right to outlaw abortion. It should be a states’ rights
issue so that the people can decide what is best for them.” It
should be noted that this exact same debate took place among people in our
nation before over the issue of slavery. Christian fanatics were telling people
and their government that no person had the inherent right to own another person
and force him to slave labor. Those fanatics prevailed, and we were blessed
with a President who understood human rights and the liberty that was his job
to protect. With the Emancipation Proclamation (an executive order) came the
beginning of the end of slavery. Minds and hearts began to change and see the
wickedness of what those slaves had endured only after they were set free.
If a person does not have the right to own another, where
does it follow that they have the right to murder another? Now Christian
fanatics are telling people and their government once again that no person has
the inherent right to murder another person, even if that person is still
inside the womb. Our rights end when another person’s rights
are being infringed upon.
“No State shall make or enforce any
law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United
States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to
any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Amendment
XIV-Section 1
If abortion is truly murder, there is no doubt that this
atrocity must be ended. A new Emancipation Proclamation needs to be declared
for the unborn. Perhaps then when all the graves are counted will we be able to
see the Evil that we allowed to exist, all because of one big lie.
